Kennedy



March 15, 1955 KENNEDY 2,703,887

GLOVE I Filed June 17, 1953 INVEN TOR.

Bert Kennedy BY E 310mm United States Patent GLOVE Bert Kennedy, Gloversville, N. Y.

Application June 17, 1953, Serial No. 362,376

3 Claims. (Cl. 2-167) The present invention relates to a glove, and more particularly to a dress glove made of a smooth, woven textile fabric such as woven cotton, nylon or other synthetic fabric, and has for its object the production of a glove of the character described which has a non-slip front or palm trank which will frictionally engage and hold the surface of objects, and is particularly adapted for wear while driving an automobile.

Dress gloves of the character to which the present invention relates are generally formed of fine, smooth or polished yarn which makes a smooth and relatively slippery fabric and, therefore, not particularly suited for use or wear in many circumstances as, for instance, when handling the driving wheel of an automobile or the like because of the hazardous tendency of the smoothly gloved hand to slip upon the generally smooth surface of such driving wheel.

While it has heretofore been known to modify all or part of the front or palm side of a gloove to provide it with a frictional surface, all such modifications, while they may or may not have been suitable or practical for work gloves, have certainly not been suitable or practical for dress gloves made of a smooth-yarn textile fabric, both because of the nature and character of a dress glove and because of the nature and character of the means heretofore utilized in providing the palm side of a glove with a friction surface.

It is well known that a dress glove must have a snug fit over the hand, as is evidenced by the well known and recognized expression of fit like a gloove. Because of the snug fit, a woven fabric glove must needs be porous to an extent or permitting the flow of air or perspiration therethrough to cool the hand inside of the gloove and maintain it in a dry and comfortable state.

Also, in order to obtain a snug fitthereof, the woven textile fabric from which such dress glove is made must have a substantial amount of crosswise elasticity to permit the wider parts of the hand to pass comfortably through the glove while slipping it over the hand, without permanently stretching it.

Also, dress gloves are required to be soft, yielding and pliable, and to have a pleasant feel, as well as of neat and attractive appearance.

Because of the foregoing characteristics of a dress glove, the various means heretofore used to provide a friction surface on the palm side of a glove, are unsuited for use on a dress glove.

Heretofore friction surfaces were applied to gloves or the like by securing to the surface or parts of the surface of such gloves, generally work gloves, an abrasive substance which was held on to the glove surface by an adhesive of some kind, in some instances a rubberized adhesive. The adhesive was generally impregnated in the glove fabric or applied as a film-like coating over the surface thereof and was vulcanized and hardened in the glove fabric. Another method of forming a friction surface on a glove was to coat the glove surface or impregnate the fabric with a latex solution which was generally vulcanized or otherwise allowed to set and harden.

From the foregoing discussion of the essential characteristics of a dress glove, it is obvious that none of the friction producing methods or means described are suitable for use in connection with a dress glove, because they result in a solid and imperforate coating on the surface of the glove which does not permit of the passage of air or moisture therethrough; because they render the glove fabric stiff and destroy the elasticity of the glove in a manner unsuited for a dress glove. Finally, such surfaces, as produced by the foregoing methods, are nondurable because of brittleness, as when vulcanized or otherwise hardened, or, if not vulcanized, because of the tendency of latex to crumble and peel off upon rubbing contact. It is the object of the present invention to provide a smooth, woven fabric dress glove having a friction surface upon all or part of its palm side which remains soft, flexible and elastic to permit of its easy putting on and taking off; which will retain its elastic characteristics so that it will fit snugly upon the hand and will be and remain comfortable to use.

It is another object of the present invention to provide a smooth, woven fabric dress glove of the character described having a friction surface which remains porous and permits respiration therethrough to maintain the hand in warm, dry and comfortable state.

It is still another object of the present invention to provide a smooth, woven fabric dress glove of the character described having an inner surface which is smooth and soft and free from any of the friction producing substance so that the latter is not in contact with the skin of the hand.

It is yet another object of the present invention to provide a smooth, woven fabric dress glove of the character described having a friction surface which is not discolored or otherwise altered in appearance and which retains its attractive appearance and has its friction surface match the remaining parts of the glove in appearance.

It is a further object of the present invention to provide a smooth,-woven fabric dress glove of the character described having a friction surface which is durable and will not readily wear off from ordinary use.

It is a still further object of the present invention to provide a smooth, woven fabric dress glove having a friction surface which is relatively simple and easy to produce at relatively little increase in cost as compared to similar gloves made without a friction surface.

The foregoing and other advantages and superiorities of the dress glove of the present invention will become more readily apparent to those skilled in the art from the embodiment thereof more or less diagrammatically shown in the accompanying drawing and from the description following. It is to be understood, however, that such embodiment is shown by way of illustration only, to make the principles and practice of the invention more readily comprehensible, and without any intent of limiting the invention to the specific details shown therein.

In the drawing the single figure is a greatly enlarged, more or less diagrammatic, perspective view of a section of the palm side woven fabric of a glove of the present invention.

Generally stated, the present invention consists in coating the individual threads or yarns forming the fabric of the palm side of the glove or parts thereof with a coating containing latex rubber, without completely closing the spaces between them, by having such coating extending into the fabric to a depth less than onequarter the thickness thereof, and in a manner to cause the latex to adhere to the fabric yarn.

While the application of latex to the surface of a fabric to provide it with a friction surface has heretofore been known, such surfacing, besides being in the form of a continuous film which rendered the fabric non-porous, relatively inelastic and stiff, has not been durable, and, after a short time, when it dried, it granulated and became crumbly and peeled off upon rubbing or frictional engagement with another surface. The present invention, therefore, contemplates the utilization, as a coating upon the surface of the yarn of the glove fabric, latex rubber in homogenized mixture with another substance of an adhesive character which will durably retain the latex in place on the yarn surface to provide a durable and lasting friction surface for the glove.

I have found that a homogeneous mixture of natural latex with an adhesive or cementing substance may be sprayed upon smooth, woven textile fabric portions of a glove or the fabric portions from which a glove is to be made, when in distended state, in a manner to form a relatively shallow coating or film 10 over the smooth yarn 11 match the color of the fabric upon which it is to beused, so that all parts of the glove, both coated and uncoated, will have the same appearance.

The latex utilized may be either natural or a synthetic equivalent thereof. The adhesive or cement may be of any type most suitable for the particular yarn to which the fabric is made and may preferably be of a type having an adhesive base consisting of synthetic plastic cement material. They may preferably be homogeneously mixed in the proportion of between about 65% to 75% of latex to about 25 to 35% of adhesive in a consistency or viscosity that is suitable for spraying.

The spraying is preferably effected while the fabric is distended or stretched, to permit the sprayed liquid to coat the upper surface portion of the yarn to a depth of less than 25% of its thickness thereby avoiding the clotting or closing of most of the spaces between the individual yarn from which the fabric is woven.

This completes the description of the dress-glove of the present invention. It will be apparent that such glove is highly effective for its purpose of being nonslipping, in that it possesses a palm side or part thereof which is provided with a friction exerting, gripping surface without interfering with the flexibility, elasticity and wearing comfort and appearance thereof.

It will also be apparent that the dress glove of the present invention may be easily and economically produced, as it utilizes a minimum of relatively cheap surfacing material, as only part of the surface of the yarn of the fabric is covered, and as the material is applied economically by spraying.

It may here be stated, however, that while the invention has been described in connection with dress gloves, it will be found just as effective and desirable in connection with work or other types of gloves which it may be desirable to provide with a gripping surface.

It will be further apparent that numerous modifications and variations of the gloves of the present invention may be made by any one skilled in the art in accordance with the principles of the invention hereinabove set forth and without the use of any inventive ingenuity. I desire to be protected, therefore, for any and all such modifications and variations that may be made within the spirit of the invention and the scope of the claims hereto appended.

What I claim is:

1. A dress glove of the character described comprising a palm section made of smooth-yarn woven textile fabric, a major portion of said palm section having the yarn comprising the same coated with a thin layer of a homogenized mixture of rubber latex with an adhesive, said coating covering said yarn to a depth of approximately one-quarter the thickness thereof whereby the pores of the weave of said coated portion remain open to permit passage of air therethrough.

2. A dress glove of the character described comprising a palm section made of smooth-yarn woven fabric, at least a major portion of said palm section having the yarn comprising the same coated with a thin layer of a mixture of rubber latex with an adhesive; containing between about to of latex and between about 35% to 25% of the adhesive, said coating covering said yarn to a depth of approximately one quarter of the thickness thereof, whereby the pores of the Weave of said coated portion remain open to permit the passage of air therethrough.

3. A dress glove of the character described, comprising a palm section made of smooth-yarn Woven fabric, said palm section having the outer face of the yarn comprising the same coated with a thin layer of a homogenized mixture of rubber latex with a synthetic plastic cementing substance, said coating covering said yarn to a depth of approximately one quarter of the thickness thereof, whereby the pores of the weave of said palm section remain open to permit the passage of air therethrough.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,179,871 St. John Apr. 18, 1916 1,769,977 Watkins July 8, 1930 2,100,029 Gammeter Nov. 23, 1937 2,149,750 Schwartz Mar. 7, 1939 2,161,383 Reinhardt June 6, 1939 2,181,247 Montgomery Nov. 28, 1939 2,293,928 Beal Aug. 25, 1942 FOREIGN PATENTS 528,436 Great Britain Oct. 29, 1940 

